Zoe McKenzie
Flinders · Liberal Party · Australia
“Wet lettuce. That is the official verdict on this government's attempt to prevent harm to Australian kids via social media regulation. 'Wet lettuce' were the exact words the eSafety Commissioner used to describe the reforms a month ago in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.”
“Schedule 1 contains a large number of technical amendments across Commonwealth legislation, while schedule 2 repeals more than 100 obsolete amending acts that no longer have any operative effect.”
“They include amendments affecting the Criminal Code, veterans legislation, radio communications, the Midwife Professional Indemnity Scheme, marine safety legislation, family law, freedom of information and electoral legislation.”
“Too often we have seen legislation introduced in haste, legislation requiring significant correction after introduction or legislation producing unintended consequences because proper scrutiny was lacking. Australians expect better.”
“I rise to speak on the Statute Update Bill 2026. The coalition recognises the important role that the statute update legislation plays in maintaining the quality and integrity of the Commonwealth Statute Book. These bills have long been a feature of good legislative practice.”
“It strengthens parliamentary scrutiny, it improves transparency and it provides confidence that the legislation described as technical does not, inadvertently or otherwise, produce substantive legal change. Good lawmaking is not just about good drafting; it is about careful scrutiny.”
The complete record
Every one of 413 lines we hold for Zoe McKenzie, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 9.
“They empower the Department of Education to respond when providers pose a risk to children, including suspending or cancelling their approval to receive taxpayer money. But this bill alone will not fix the childcare system. It is a necessary step but only one step. The bill will also grant new powers to the secretary of the department to refuse to approve a provider or suspend or cancel an earlier approval in the event she or he is not satisfied that the provider continues to give regard to quality, safety and compliance. The bill will also build the secretary's ability to publish information about actions taken against providers, from suspensions and cancellations to infringement notices and conditions placed on a provider's approval.”
“It is one part of that national response and, while we welcome its introduction, I must be clear: it cannot be the beginning and end of the government's plan. This bill gives the Secretary of the Department of Education new powers, stronger powers, to cancel or suspend childcare subsidy approvals if a provider is failing to meet appropriate quality or safety standards. That is important as it will signal to the sector that safety is essential to each centre's ongoing existence. It also signals that persistent noncompliance and poor track records won't be tolerated and that the right to access government funding comes with real responsibility and consequences. The changes in this bill strengthen Commonwealth powers to act when serious quality or safety concerns arise.”
“The Commonwealth's role in this sector is largely one of funder, through the childcare subsidy, which, according to the government's own figures, costs the Australian people more than $16 billion each year, representing the 11th or 12th largest expenditure program under the remit of the entire Australian government. Through its funding, the Australian government can play an important leadership role in standards and system setting. While the Australian government largely foots the bill, the states and territories continue to hold the reins on most regulation and safety measures and, indeed, oversee the police forces charged with identifying any criminal behaviour which might be occurring in these settings. This bill, however, expands the Commonwealth's contribution to safety.”
“To our collective shame, this is not the first time we've heard of such crimes, but it must be the last time we fail to act quickly and decisively. Our children deserve better. This legislation today will make a start not only on addressing the issues before us now but on rebuilding confidence in a system that millions of Australian families rely on every single day. I thank the Minister for Education and his team, as well as his senior officials, who have briefed me and the shadow minister for education and early learning, Senator the Hon Jonathon Duniam, on the proposed measures in this bill a number of times.”
“The Victorian opposition, however, has already announced its intent to implement a series of safety measures were it to be successful in next year's state election, including the publication of safety data relating to each Victorian ECEC setting; the publication of staffing levels and qualifications; changes to the Working with Children Check, including a reduction of the validity period from five years to three years; extensions to the safety training of workers; reviewing the content of the current Certificate III and diploma courses which qualify for work in the area; to establish a register for all qualified ECEC workers; and finally, banning all personal devices and installing CCTV at all centres.”
“On 1 July, Victoria Police announced that Joshua Dale Brown, a 26-year-old man with a long history of work in childcare settings in Victoria, had been charged with over 70 alleged offences. As a result, infectious disease testing was recommended for 2,000 children. It has emerged that the alleged offender worked in over 20 childcare centres between 2017 and 2024. The Victorian government has ordered a review into its childcare sector, due to report by 15 August 2025.”
“It is a time when many children cannot communicate beyond smiles and tears. Every parent who drops their child off at a childcare centre entrusts that service with the most precious part of themselves. Sometimes that is a comfortable choice. Sometimes that is fuelled by need: to get back to work to get back to feeding the family and the mortgage. Parents deserve to be able to rely on such a service without fear or uncertainty, yet, right now, that trust is shaking. Like many Australians, I have felt deep revulsion and sorrow at the reports of alleged abuse taking place in early learning settings—the most recent and horrifying example being the case in Victoria that has left parents reeling, and our entire community rightfully shocked, when this news hit the papers earlier this month.”
“The ECEC system, as it is known, has seen much growth in the last 15 years, with the number of places having grown by some 50 per cent between 2013 and 2023, largely under the settings of the former coalition government. The national body charged with regulating standards in the sector, the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, was only created in 2012 which, while sounding like a long time ago, is one of the youngest of its counterpart bodies, with the national regulatory bodies in both higher education and vocational education fields having been created sometime earlier. There are few things more important and more sacred than the safety of our children, at no more precious time than their early years. Every moment is laden both with learning as well as vulnerability.”
“I rise today to speak on the Early Childhood Education and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Bill 2025, which amends A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to give the Commonwealth government power to cut off funding to childcare centres that don't meet safety and quality standards; to allow Commonwealth officers to perform unannounced visits to detect fraud and non-compliance across the sector; and to actively allow stronger 'name and shame' powers, especially on the StartingBlocks website, by expanding the secretary's powers to publicise details about providers. Today, according to the Productivity Commission, more than 1.4 million children across Australia aged between zero and 12 attend an early childhood education and care setting, of which there are more than 19,000 across Australia.”
“The biggest productivity payoff comes not from forgiving debt but from ensuring the education system matches labour market needs, lifting quality in higher education and supporting lifelong learning across all sectors of the workforce. My party is focused on our duty to reflect and represent modern Australia, including the three million Australians carrying significant education debts. Those debts are concentrated in seats like Kooyong, Chisholm, Ryan, Menzies, Goldstein, Bradfield, Bennelong, Deakin, Dickson and Mackellar. Australians sent us a clear message at the election, and we are listening. We'll take time to get it right and we will show up and engage with the issues that matter to younger Australians, and we're working to get that done.”
“This policy resonated at the election because young people have experienced the heat of Labor's cost crisis over the past three years and they continue to feel locked out and let down by Labor on housing. HELP is a system which supports students to access tertiary studies by deferring the cost until they are earning. It is predominantly used for university degrees and has opened the doors to university for millions of Australians. It is indeed a national asset which has enduring support from all sides of government. While this government shifts its focus to productivity in coming weeks, having overseen a slump in productivity to what is now the lowest average productivity growth in two decades, it may wish to think through the relationship between extending student debt and productivity.”
“Since Labor came to office, health costs are up by 13 per cent, food by 14 per cent, rent by 18 per cent and insurance by a staggering 36 per cent. This is the cost-of-living crisis of Labor's own making, and now they're offering narrowly targeted relief while leaving millions of Australians behind and asking them to pick up the bill for the three million Australians who will benefit from this one-off reduction. All young Australians, whether they went to university or not, deserve a government focused on real reform and fair opportunity for everyone, not just the few. As the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister for education have indicated elsewhere, we will be constructive and we will not stand in the way of this legislation passing.”
“Those midway through paying down their loans and current students will see some benefit, but those who have just finished repaying and who have struggled to retire their debt and future students will get nothing. Others who gain the most are current and former students of private higher education providers, who pay high fees through FEE-HELP, and postgraduates who may have large debts. It goes without saying that the best long-term cost-of-living relief for students and non-students alike is to get the cost of living under control. That means cutting red tape, boosting productivity, easing pressure on energy prices and winding back wasteful government spending. The reality is, under Labor, everything has been, and continues to be, going up in price.”
“For most HELP debtors, the marginal HELP repayment rate will be slightly higher than now. A consequence of needing to recover the lost revenue from the higher first threshold. Those with bigger debts will get more relief, regardless of their capacity to earn more in the future, so a lawyer who graduated last year will receive more help than a social worker. Young people who haven't gone to uni or who studied a lower cost course and those who haven't worked hard and haven't made voluntary payments will not see the same benefit. The biggest beneficiaries of the 20 per cent cut are recent graduates whose debts are at their peak but who haven't made any significant repayments on that debt.”
“Attempting to buy 3 million votes in a close election is not a good one. We should be wary—creeping populism can grow for decades. Ashley Craig, economist said: He also said: This is exceptionally bad policy which favours the rich, doesn't help with current cost of living, and does nothing to encourage higher ed. Ben Phillips of the ANU Centre for Social Policy Research said: 'Real cost of living relief' better directed to genuinely poor people rather than well paid Uni grads in their late 20s/early 30s (when they benefit from the new policy). What about future grads? And Andrew Norton, the highly regarded Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy at ANU, said: Marginal HELP repayments will be 15% on incomes $67,000-$124,999 & 17% on incomes of $125,000+.”
“With effect from 1 June, the bill reduces student debt, including all HELP, vocational education and training student loans, Australian apprenticeship support loans, student start-up loans and other student loans. While attractive at the ballot box, this is poor economic and educational policy. When Labor announced this policy last year subject to the election outcome, economists slammed it as a poorly targeted sugar hit. Let me quote Chris Richardson, an economist: …handing $16bn to graduates is a reverse Robin Hood: it's a tax cut targeted to the big end of town, with money going from the less well off to the better off. It's a fairness fail. Worse still, that $16bn does nothing for the nation's future. Andrew Lilley, Chief Interest Rate Strategist at Barrenjoey, said: Just sad to see this. Many good ways to "spend" ten billion.”
“We know there are some categories of women who will be disadvantaged, especially those who will work part time early in their careers, and that past debtors who have repaid the cost of their studies and future students, enrolling as of tomorrow, will miss out. The changes to the repayment method also contained in this bill will affect all debtors and, for many of those with low incomes, may keep them in debt for even longer. The Parliamentary Budget Office modelled that a graduate with a low income—50 per cent of average graduate income—will fall below the new minimum repayment threshold and will take approximately another eight years to pay off their debt.”
“We acknowledge, though it is predominantly higher education debt, there are also some VET loans. The government estimates this measure will save those debtors, on average, $5,520 on their accumulated HECS debt. The Australian government invests heavily in university education and has done so for decades, and it is important to remember that Commonwealth covers around 60 per cent of a student's degree, although that varies greatly by discipline. Further support for students is welcome, but it must be balanced with a focus on broader reforms that improve opportunity for all. Analysis of this policy would suggest that it will benefit high-income earners who have undertaken expensive degrees.”
“The government's approach ignores the needs of those young Australians who don't go to university, including those in insecure or lower paid jobs who are highly exposed to high cost of living and high housing costs. Students face huge increases in everyday costs thanks to this government's policies. Since they were elected, rent has gone up by 18 per cent, cheese has gone up by 20 per cent, milk has gone up by 17 per cent, cereal—the staple of all students, may I say—has gone up by 20 per cent and eggs have gone up by 32 per cent. We understand that, today, around three million Australians have a student debt amounting to $81 billion, meaning each student carries an average debt of $27,640. As they move into the professional world, they have to work out how they will repay this debt.”
“This policy resonated at the election, because young people are being hit hard by Labor's cost-of-living crisis, and student debt is part of that pressure. This policy will assist a specific cohort: those with large HELP debts, most of whom had the opportunity to attend university. The government has accepted that early childhood workers and nurses should be writing off the debts of lawyers and doctors—indeed, debts worth $16 billion. But there are millions of Australians who don't have a student loan, and many of them are also struggling to pay the rent, to buy groceries and to cover basic bills, and it is their taxation dollars that are going towards this one-off $16 billion cost to the bottom line of the budget.”
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, a measure which provides a one-off 20 per cent reduction to higher educational and program debts and restructures how young people will repay their debt, including lifting the threshold for compulsory repayments from $54,435 in 2024-25 to $67,000 in this financial year. Around three million Australians who have student debt loans will see some benefit from the debt reduction measure, including the 70 per cent of HELP debtors who are aged 35 years old or younger. This change forms part of broader adjustments to the repayment system and will provide some immediate cost-of-living relief for those carrying significant student debt.”
“The Mornington Peninsula is a popular retirement destination for many who are attracted by the natural beauty of our area, temperate climate and, at least until recently, more affordable housing. They have worked hard, invested wisely and done exactly what governments have been telling them to do for decades: be self-reliant and save for their own retirement. My community is not asking for handouts; it is asking for fairness. Our electorate's retirees are wise, experienced and deeply community minded. A good society looks after its older citizens and does not penalise them for saving for their retirement. These people have spent years contributing to our community and deserve better. They deserve better from this punishing Labor government.”
“I rise today to speak out against Labor's new tax on superannuation, a tax that doesn't just target the wealthy but also hits at the heart of my community on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. Under Labor's plan, anybody with a super balance over $3 million will see their tax double from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. But here's the kicker: that $3 million threshold won't be indexed. That means it is not just today's retirees who are being caught but thousands of hardworking Australians who will be swept up in the years ahead, including many on the Mornington Peninsula. Flinders is home to 1,900 people who have already reached the threshold according to research from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. That's 1,900 locals who played by the rules, saved responsibly and are now being punished for it, and they won't be the last.”
“So my electorate, together with the rest of Australia, has good reason to fear what this government has in mind for its future and needs to look carefully at why they got the lowest primary vote ever, bar one.”
“In this, as in other measures, my constituents are right to fear that this government does not have their interests at heart, which is so evident from the Labor candidate's mere $3 million in commitments to the electorate of Flinders, contrasted to the coalition's almost $1 billion of commitments across public transport infrastructure, sporting facilities, support for veterans' mental health and the building of a world-recognised walking track around the peninsula. To add insult to injury, the government's first move in relation to my electorate in this new term is to close the post office at Rosebud Plaza—the one most accessible to people who need to walk or catch public transport to get there.”
“My electorate, according to the Age , will be disproportionately hard hit—due, most likely, to the fact that 90 per cent of those hit by the new tax are aged over 60, and I have the privilege to represent an older electorate made up of people who have worked hard, saved up, started businesses, created employment for others, looked after their families and provided for their own retirements. The number of people hit on the Mornington Peninsula is higher than all of metropolitan Brisbane and close to the number affected in inner Sydney.”
“The analysis found: Of the 80,000 Australians with super balances eclipsing $3 million, about 55 per cent are male, one-quarter have at least one investment property and about a third are still earning wage or salary income…Of those still working, most are in managerial or professional roles. The article goes on to explain the impact of this tax on Australian farmers—a point raised by the Leader of the Nationals today—whose superannuation often resides in the family farm and who may or may not, in any one particular year, have the finances set aside to pay such a tax.”
“This superannuation tax, from the people who told you they wouldn't change settings relating to superannuation, will affect almost 2,000 people in my electorate of Flinders. And today, to add insult to injury, they failed to rule out any future taxation of unrealised capital gains. Interestingly, I read in the Age yesterday, as I'm sure many of my constituents also did, an article by Shane Wright and Millie Muroi that referred to an analysis of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia which revealed that the median income for people slugged with Labor's new superannuation tax will be $110,000.”
“This last vote was not an endorsement of Labor's management of the critical issues confronting Australians, whether that be energy supply and affordability, housing affordability and availability or the ability to carefully and confidently provide for their future and, ultimately, their retirement. The Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the Nationals and the shadow Treasurer today raised a long list of Labor's failures—a housing program, for example, which promised 1.2 million homes but has only delivered 17, and a nonsensical superannuation tax which punishes those who have worked hard to provide for their own retirement and remove the burden from the state of the cost of providing for a pension.”
“This vote was not an endorsement of Labor's management of the critical issues confronting all Australians: cost of living; falling productivity; and abject failures when it comes to keeping Australians safe, whether that's a failure to oversee and institute rigour in our immigration system, a failure to stamp out antisemitic behaviour when it has raised its ugly head repeatedly over the last three years or, most recently, as we have seen so devastatingly, a failure to urgently work with states and territories in relation to the safety of children in our early learning and childcare settings.”
“I heard the Minister for Education talk about what people voted for, running through Labor's long list of policies for which someone else has had to do the hard work to be able to pay and for which only 34.6 per cent of Australians voted. Nevertheless, for the last 36 hours we've been listening to them congratulating themselves for achieving the second-lowest primary vote ever since 1910, beaten only by their record—a primary vote of 32.5 per cent last time. Based on what we have seen, we should get ready for another three years of self-congratulation.”
“Like my colleagues, I congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker Claydon, on your election once more to this post. Today's topic, just to remind the member for Hunter, is in fact that the Albanese government has failed to address the nation's greatest challenges and priorities. Interestingly, all we have heard from those opposite today—indeed, including from the Prime Minister himself in question time—is proud boasting and utter hubris, with the government congratulating itself for its sweep of seats at the last election—an election in which they received the lowest first-preference vote ever bar one, which of course was the 2022 election, where its first-preference vote was even lower.”
“My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government and Minister representing the Minister for Women. Has the minister asked her department to identify how much taxpayer money has been siphoned to organised crime through the CFMEU on infrastructure projects? If so, what action has she taken as a result?”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Tomorrow, it will be 1,000 days since the election of the Albanese Labor government. The Prime Minister promised Australians he would halve migration numbers. Instead, the Prime Minister is bringing 1.8 million more people into Australia over five years, during a housing crisis with higher rents and fewer homes being built. Why won't this Prime Minister apologise to Australians for his weak leadership, bad decisions and wrong priorities?”
“This investment, together with the $2.6 million investment into Alexandra Park Pavilion, which I opened last August, and the Rosebud Cancer and Clinical Trials Hub, the opening of which I attended with Greg Hunt in December 2021, is hard-won by the community of Flinders— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 09:44 to 09:54”
“Almost 90,000 people in my electorate have private health care. We also hold the record of having the highest private health insurance benefits per member. This important facility will be used and valued by our community in this much loved, community based, not-for-profit hospital, where generations of peninsula families have gone through births, breaks, bouts of disease, cancer and end-of-life care. I congratulate the Bays CEO, Jade Phelan, and chair of the board, Brett Gallagher, for continuing exceptional care and leadership of this enduring local institution.”
“The HyperArc delivers radiation therapy and, through its devices, it can accurately target multiple tumours while ensuring limited doses of radiation go to surrounding healthy brain tissue, reducing the impact of side effects compared to traditional radiation on the brain, including headaches and hair loss, therefore contributing to general wellbeing and confidence in one's treatment. The CEO of Icon, Mark Middleton, joined us as the opening, together with the patron saint of this project and my dear good friend Professor the Hon. Greg Hunt, the former Minister for Health and former member for Flinders. Cancer care is vital to my community. Twenty-five per cent of all Australian cancer diagnoses occur in Victoria, and the risk of developing cancer doubles between the ages of 50 and 60 and 60 and 70.”
“The wellness centre was completed with a generous $600,000 donation from Community Bank Mount Martha, a branch of the Bendigo Bank. It provides a space for support groups and things like yoga and other bits and pieces. I thank Bruce Ranken, board chair and now a local councillor, for everything this extraordinary bank/branch does for our community. From health care to sporting facilities to local events and festivals, the peninsula would not be paradise without this little bank. The Bays has partnered with Icon Cancer Care to bring the very latest in radiation oncology services to the peninsula, giving us access to this top-tier treatment. David Blakey gave me a tour of the facility. He showed me the extraordinary equipment, including the HyperArc, which will make diagnosis and treatment safe, comfortable, precise and quick.”
“Last week, I had the honour of officially opening the new comprehensive cancer centre at the Bays Hospital on Main Street, Mornington. It was built with funds provided by the coalition government back in 2019. This new facility will provide radiation oncology, a day infusion centre, a 20-30 bed inpatient facility, a consultation and education space for both breast and prostate cancer support nurses, and education and meeting spaces for community and general practitioners. It will change the lives of local cancer patients. It's a one-stop-shop for all cancer related services that's much closer to home, avoiding the daily, weekly or, in some cases, fortnightly commute to Frankston or, in the cases of many families, including my own, to Melbourne to obtain specialist oncology care.”
“Over the years Peter Alp, president of the cricket club between 2011 and 2021, has advocated for a rebuild of the reserve. He has held talks with all and sundry and drawn the presidents, secretaries and treasurers of all the cricket, footy and netball clubs to meetings with me, meetings with state candidates, meetings with anyone who will listen. I haven't yet seen Peter in tears, but he has come close a couple of times, sitting with me on the sagging benches of the pavilion, asking: 'What have we got to do to get someone to listen? Forty-nine clubs and we're still growing. What more do we have to do?' The institution can claim to have been standing for more than 130 years, and let's hope that the commitment I made on Saturday, if realised, will mean many more victories to come in the future.”
“I have the enormous fortune to represent an electorate that likes to run around, brandish a bat, hit or kick a ball or throw one through a hoop. It keeps us happy and healthy, and our flourishing sporting clubs are the backbone of our beautiful community. On Saturday I went out to watch the cricket match between Somerville and Mount Eliza at the Somerville Recreation Reserve. It was a celebration of premierships past and graced by cricket royalty, including ODI player Shaun Graf, who was born and bred in Somerville. Roast beef rolls were made by Steve, and Bec and Ella were running the bar. Premiership players got the gold in the form of a stubby holder, at least that was until I announced a future Dutton government will provide $5 million towards the redevelopment of this much loved but very dilapidated reserve and pavilion.”
“The coalition members of the social media committee argued in recommendation 13 that we should establish a joint standing committee on online safety, artificial intelligence and technology, tasked with investigating the strengths and weaknesses in Australia's regulatory system, legislative tools, industrial base and technological capabilities. As scammers get better at their craft using different platforms and methodologies, we must be ready to regulate to keep our citizens safe. This bill we're considering today constitutes a start, albeit a slow and unambitious start. It's perhaps one indicative of this entire government's approach to leading Australia but one which hopefully will, if nothing else, rob us of the title of global scams' honey pot. (Quorum formed)”
“For these reasons, the coalition committee members in that report recommended that government mandate detailed annual reporting to the eSafety Commissioner on revenue from regulated and restricted industries. In their evidence to the joint select committee, the International Justice Mission also identified that dating apps and websites play a significant role in romance scams and child sexual exploitation and called for those companies and social media platforms to collaborate closely to stem romance scamming.”
“It nevertheless aligns with some of the recommendations that the coalition provided in its additional comments to the recent Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society report, namely that a shared responsibility for scams is the only way that customers will be protected through the entire supply chain of a digitally executed or induced fraud. In that report's additional comments, the coalition members argued that social media companies should be held liable for failing to remove and report links, tools and users who, through link-in-bio platforms, facilitate access to class 1 or class 2 material and indeed scam ads. At present, social media companies are making money out of advertising from regulated and restricted industries. They therefore have a vested interest in using data to exploit users for their clients.”
“In his 2023 budget reply speech, our leader, Peter Dutton, committed that a coalition government would impose more onerous obligations on big digital companies to stop scams and financial fraud. The Australian Banking Association has, in the absence of concrete policy from government in this space until now, developed a Scam-Safe Accord, which seems to be the central policy glue committing all types of industries to work together in an ecosystem to mitigate against scams. We are yet to see if it will stem the scamming tide.”
“When I have raised the issue of digital and scamming education with the big four banks on behalf of my consumers, they have been keen to tell me that such education is readily available online. I can only stress here as I have stressed in those meetings: you are missing the point, dear banks. Once you have been scammed or near scammed, the online world is one of fear and uncertainty. The way back is face-to-face communication. My community in the electorate of Flinders has benefited greatly from these sessions being run by local branches of the Bendigo Bank, and I really thank them for this and encourage them to keep up their great work. The coalition has a record of advocating for sensible obligations on companies to stop scams.”
“Bendigo Bank—so loved in our community for their support of community sport, for their support of volunteer groups and, most recently, for their contribution of $600,000 to create a wellness centre at the Bays Hospital in Mornington, which I had the honour to open on Monday—has developed a big emphasis on face-to-face resolution as a way to make people feel more comfortable admitting they have been scammed. Not only does it more effectively help those generations who aren't digital natives, but it gives every human a sense of assurance that the problem can be solved then and there. In 2023, Bendigo Bank launched a face-to-face education approach to help its 2.5 million customers safely navigate digital banking. It's an innovation which other banks could and should follow.”
“As I sat with Mum at Westpac or NAB, waiting to make a simple transaction in the few months after her scam exposure, I observed a myriad of people coming in in absolute desperation. They were up at the counter expressing their frustration, their confusion and their panic. They had no idea what happened, but they knew something bad had happened. A branch or a vigilant daughter—for those who don't have the latter, they still need the former.”
“There are no odd transactions.' I screenshot the text and sent it to them. The scammers' business model is vulnerability executed to perfection. They know when mums are busy picking up kids or dads might be trying to finish up a day's work on the tools before a long weekend. They text Nan on a public holiday, 'You forgot to pay your Origin bill.' No-one wants to pay the Origin bill late, and so you pay it, but you use the click-through because you're on the run, and it turns out you haven't paid the Origin bill at all. As part of this debate, we must recognise that older Australians rely on an analogue interface. We used to call it going into the branch. Closing branches has a devastating effect on people's confidence that there will be help if something goes wrong.”
“This is what I had to do through the night—in fact, over many nights—from Santiago in Chile to install protections around my mother's interests and, more importantly, to reassure her she was going to be okay. Scams thrive because it is human to have inevitable lapses in judgement, and with each day our scammers get more sophisticated, such that even the most paranoid amongst us are at risk of being duped. I remember the first time I got one of those text messages from NAB. It came from NAB, the same NAB title that I got from every other communication from NAB in my iPhone. It told me I needed to ring the bank about a suspicious transaction on a mobile phone number. I thought, 'That's weird,' and I rang the bank on the normal number that I call them on, not the text, and was told: 'No.”